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Where are our priorities?

There is a huge hullabaloo in Canada (and in parts of the US and Europe) over the National Hockey League owners decision to lockout their players in a labour dispute over revenue sharing. This fuss is particularly evident from the overwhelming coverage on the news and sports channels.

In hockey circles, there is a great deal of concern about the prospects for the 2012/13 season. Fans have been shown carrying signs, urging owners and players to get back to the bargaining table to get a deal done. The owners locked the players out only eight short years ago, wiping out the 2004/05 season, and nobody (except maybe the owners) wants this to happen again.

I wonder if there is a much concern for another news headline I saw this week. According to CBC television, over 50% of the coral that makes up the Great Barrier Reef has died in the last 27 years. This is a tragedy of monumental proportions and another screaming canary in the coal mine warning us that our planet is in grave danger. And yet there is scarcely a whisper about it in these parts.

This sports calamity versus planet crisis is markedly similar to the Brett Lawrie strikeout incident that happened in professional baseball this summer and underscores one of the key reasons why Earth is in such dire shape … we’ve got our priorities terribly mixed up! In fact, there have been at least two other news items on CBC in the last year reporting other significant environmental crisis and these too have received little attention.

In the face of the potential loss of the Great Barrier Reef, does the NHL lockout really warrant any serious discussion?

Global warming and pollution are said to be the main culprits in the reef’s decline and experts seem to be divided on its sustainability, although I’m not certain about what they’re divided on, because global warming and pollution aren’t getting any better, suggesting the prospects for the reef are grim.

During crisis like these, we seem either to know not what to do or we simply don’t care. And yet the solution is so important and so simple … abandon our misguided pursuit of money, stature and material goods and become a more loving, compassionate and accepting society. It’s our best hope to change the perilous direction in which we’re headed.